african-americans to manage service stations in san francisco. after retiring in 1989, he spent the remainder of his life working in his yard, and chatting with those friends he met daily while running errands. mr. mccray sr. is survived by his loving wife, gloria h. mccray, his devoted son, james mccray jr., three special sisters, his four grandchildren, as well as his five great grandchildren, keith, justin, james iv, sophia and grayson. he was a special part of the jones memorial united methodist community and he will be greatly missed. also, i would like to close the meeting in memory of mr. jonathan bullock jr., who passed away last week. he was a well-known member of

the westside courts community, and he will be missed. mr. bullock's death is a reminders of our individual and collective responsibility to keep our communities safe and free from violence. i send my condolences to his family, and will remain committed to working with groups like the healing circle, and west side community services, to provide assistance t to victims and family members that have experienced loss and trauma. >> angela calvillo: thank you, supervisor olague. supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you, madam clerk. today, i'm requesting a hearing on the series of theft scams that have targeted chinese elders. as a member of the public safety committee but also the district 1 supervisor, i'm concerned because they've been hitting the

richmond district. from january to september elderly members of the chinese community were victimized by several scam artists and nearly $2 million has been made off by the scam artists this year. several of these cases were in the richmond, but also other areas like chinatown, the sunset and other district in the city. the scams have targeted the chinese communities of other major cities like new york and chicago. the san francisco police department and the district attorney's office have continued to receive reports from many elderly chinese seniors in our communities. my office is working closely with the police department, and the district attorney's office, but also safety awareness for everyone, sf safe and members of our community on key strategies to stop these scams that target the vulnerable in our communities. there's a cantonese and -- tip line, 415-a 553-9212.

i am cosponsoring the resolution congratulating the city college chinatown north beach campus. it's been a 10 year struggle for that campus to be built and i wanted to congratulate the new dean, and kind of the outgoing dean for their tremendous work and students and staff members. i plan to be there on friday, september 21, to celebrate with everyone the victory of the campus and a brand new place in chinatown and north beach. also this morning, i was joined by our city librarian, luis herrera, and adrian pawn, to raise awareness about an important public hearing process for the public library system. it's very important, every five years, under the library preservation fund, we're required to listen hard to representatives anresidents andf

libraries. we're starting the first of 11 public hearings on improving the libraries. i'm very proud that our office is really trying to help with getting more of the immigrant communities and non-english speakers to weigh in on the hours, the types of materials, computer labs, number of ebooks, even issues related to improving our libraries. there's a whole list of the 11 different supervisorial hearings but i wanted to raise awareness on thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 at the branch library on 9th avenue at geary and clement we will be holding the first of 11 hearings. i also wanted to alert people and congratulate the chef at assiza restaurant one of the best in the city on geary and 22nd. he's been named by the u.s. government in a ceremony recently by u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton as one of

the american chef corps chefs. he's called a state chef now and the u.s. state department really brings them together to celebrate food as a diplomatic tool. so he will be able to share the great food of assiza and san francisco kind of throughout not only the u. s. but throughout the world. it's really important that he will be preparing meals at state dinners and traveling to other countries, representing not just san francisco but the united states of america. i wanted to thank sarah confrom the richmond sf blog for alerting us and congratulate chef lalu from assiza if you can. i think people know i was on the school board for eight years when we enacted our arts education plan for the school district. this week is national arts in education week. i know some of my colleagues from jane kim to david campos know this but our education master plan is a model for other

school districts around the country. this week there is a number of events, one on wednesday, at the asian art museum is a special gathering called the creative impact public reception and it's free to teachers and parents throughout the san francisco bay area. it's a fair that will highlight 35 of our city's arts organizations that really focus on providing arts in the schools. i also wanted to say that my daughter is really a beneficiary of our arts education master plan in the school district as are many of our kids here on the board of supervisors. but the arts education master plan main goal is to create equity among all the kids in the school district so that kids from low income neighborhoods have as good and possibly better arts education than kids in the more affluent areas where it's an equalizer goal of the arts education master plan. we have to fully fund it so supporting the schools through proposition h for example is one thing hopefully we will all

support in the coming years. assemblyman tom ammiano and leaders from the school district and our communities were starting to get together to discuss the reauthorization of prop h so that we have a fully funded arts education master plan for all children in the san francisco schools. the rest i'll submit. thank you. >> angela calvillo: thank you. supervisor avalos. >> supervisor avalos: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues,for introduction i have a couple of items related to the passage of proposition b that was on the ballot in june. prop b is related to coit tower. it was passed by 53.4% of the vote. and was a declaration of policy to suggest strictly limiting commercial activities and private events at coit tower and to prioritize funds generated at coit tower for maintenance of the tower's murals. according to the city charter,

around declarations of policy the board of supervisors shall, within 90 days of such approval, take such actions within their powers as shall be necessary to carry out the declaration and to effect. and i'm requesting the budget analyst and park department to work together on identifying how funds have been -- revenue has been generated at coit tower and how they have been expended over the past five years, and looking forward about how we could actually get a sense of what spending has been like and how we can better program funding that's there. so i have a letter of inquiry to the rec and park department to that effect and a request of the budget analyst to carry out analysis about funding and how it can be used and recommendations for the board to begin to enact new policy. that is mine. thanks. >> angela calvillo: thank you. supervisor carmen chu. >> supervisor chu: i wanted to

adds my comments to the resolution congratulating city college for the chinatown north beach campus. again i know supervisor chu and supervisor mar spoke to it about the importance of the campus, especially to the chinatown and chinese community but i also want to say this is such an important step for us. i won't be there at the opening unfortunately but it is a place or institution where many of our newest immigrants are able to go, to learn the language, to gain new skills. and it's something i think will really help to revitalize the chinatown area. i want to simply say how important this opening of the campus is, and again of course i am absolutely supportive of the resolution. thank you. >> the clerk: thank you, supervisor chu. mr. president, seeing no other names on the roster, that concludes roll call for introductions. >> president chiu: thank you. i understand supervisor cohen had a motion to rescind. supervisor cohen. >> supervisor cohen: i'd like to make a motion to rescind items 13 through 18.

>> president chiu: i think it's 13 through 19. >> supervisor cohen: 13 through 19. >> president chiu: yes, 13 through 19. supervisor cohen's made a motion to rescind those items. there is a second? seconded by supervisor chu. any objection? without objection those items are rescinded. if we can take a roll call vote on items 13 through 19. >> angela calvillo: supervisor farrell, aye. supervisor kim, aye. supervisor mar, aye. supervisor olague, aye. supervisor wiener, aye. supervisor avalos, aye. supervisor campos, aye. president chiu, aye. supervisor chu, aye. supervisor cohen, aye. supervisor elsbernd, aye. there are 11 ayes. >> president chiu: those items are passed. and why don't we go to our 3:30

special commendations. i know our first commendation will be offered by supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos. >> supervisor avalos: thank you, president chiu. colleagues, i would like to call up ameal deguzman, a resident in my district, and has been a great public servant in it san francisco for a number of years. coming up now. colleagues, i'm excited today to honor emeal, on the occasion of his retirement from the scoin of san francisco. he is retired after almost 15 years of service, with the human rights commission. he's been a housing representative there. before the human rights commission, he was employed by the san francisco police department for 12 years, to provide protective services for the elderly, who are vulnerable

to street crimes. he has a bachelor's from uc-berkeley, a master's of public administration from harvard university, john f. kennedy school for government, born and raised in san francisco and grew up in the fillmore district. he's an active resident of district 11, where he's done a lot of great work residents. he lives with his wife and two kids. his daughter is with him as well. she's filming him as we speak. his wife maggie, teaches elementary school for the san francisco unified school district. emill has a long history of public service to the city but on top of that he has also a long history of social justice work for decades in san francisco. as an undergrad at uc-berkeley, he was involved in the 1969 third world strike and was very active with united farm workers. as a student he was also

involved in the historic struggle to preserve manilatown. as president of the international hotel tenants association he fought along side the ihotel residence and a coalition of students tenants and community activists to stop the demolition of the "i" hotel. he was among the tenants on that notorious night back in 1978 when the courageous tenants were dragged and forcibly removed from their place of residence. after the eviction he continued to fight along side other community members to rebuild the "i" hotel which was rebuilt and reopened as affordable housing for seniors in 2005. he is currently on the board of the directors of -- board of directors of the manilatown heritage foundation which is promoting social and economic justice for -- and preserves the "i" hotel legacy advocating for equal access and advancing filipino arts and culture.

you have done tremendous work in the city and county of san francisco in your touch and mark on the city is around in so many different ways. i want to congratulate you on your great service and i look forward to all the work we can do together in our district in the years to come. >> well thank you, supervisor. i just wanted to thank president chiu and honorable supervisors, and, you know, my colleagues from the human rights commission. this is sort of a 180 degree turn from when i was an advocate and not working for the city. because hostility in the board of supervisors was more kind of what things were like in the 70's. and to the point where we gathered our cockroaches in the "i" hotel and threw them at the board of supervisors because they were so hostile to us. so i have many friends on the board, and i'm very happy to be

here. having, you know -- i'm at the quorum, always an activist, and i will always continue to be there. but i was also a city official and i worked for the city. and i tried to do my best of providing public service. and i will always encourage people to work for the city, to make it a better, to make it more affordable, to make it so that it serves the most lowest income and the most deprived individual. so i want to just kind of get that across as to what i think is -- what the spirit of many of us in san francisco. we come from an era where so much was done to make it a great city. i don't want it to just purely be for, you know, a world-class city for well-off people. it's got to be for working people. thank you very much. >> i know a couple of other folks want to speak but emeal, as you know, you have been someone who has led so many efforts in the city, particularly within my district

and the international hotel. colleagues i should let you know when i don't have a district chart in my office i have a photograph of emeal as a slightly younger man in 1977 as he was being dragged out of the international hotel during that protest by our city deposit depy sheriffs. it became symbol not just of that fight but the beginning of the asian-american political mobilizations that have continued to this day. and i very much want to thank you for your service over the years. thank your family for their service and thank supervisor avalos for recognizing one of his great district 11 residents. >> thank you, honorable president. >> [applause.] >> president chiu: and that's not all. i know supervisor olague and others have a few things to say. supervisor olague. >> supervisor olague: i want to thank you for all of your help. when i was working at the mission agenda we used to call

you frequently, asking for help with some of the habitability issues, with that residents of single room occupancy hotels had to contend with. and then you were also very helpful when i was working at the senior action network. we'd call you all the time, me, tony robles and others. and just want to thank you for all of your wisdom and your openness, because you never turned away a call, and you always did everything you could to help the residents, especially the ones we were working with, particularly, very low income residents. so thank you. i know -- is here, but we're glad to have lupe, but we'll miss you a lot. >> thank you, supervisor. >> president chiu: supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: i just wanted to dhie chime in and also thank you for all of your work. as a college student i remember watching the fall of the "i" hotel and learning about you and the story of al robles. it was inspiring to me as a

student to be committed and dedicated to working on behalf of our communities, and also just learning about the history of our activism, and of asian-americans who stood up on behalf of our neighborhoods and our most vulnerable members for a population. your work is inspiring. when we were finally able to rebuild the "i" hotel 30 years later it was amazing to see both you and al, and al was serving up food just like he did in the 70's. it's amazing to see that continuum and to be a part of that now and to work with you and your family, maggie of course is a really important part of the south of market community and bessie carmichael. your family does so much not just in the manilatown and cheentowchinatown but south of s well. >> thank you, supervisor. >> president chiu: last but not least, supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you, for your leadership in our

movements from the international hotel tenants oh, and the spirit of the "i" hotel to the work on housing justice and even for seniors and so many others. i know you as a great parent too. i remember immigrant pride day events with you and your children. and for you and maggie and your family i wish you the best of everything. but i know that you're going to stay involved. and you have nurtured so many young activists to many other organizations. and i hope you get some rest, and recuperation, and then get back out there and helping to build our movements. but thank you so much for your service to san francisco. >> thank you. thank you, supervisor. >> [applause.]

>> it's kind of rare i do two in one day but i've got another commendation for another amazing person, lilie haskell who i would like to call up to the podium. lilie haskell is a moroccan american organizer who has been organizing a community based organization here in san francisco since 2007. lilie has contributed to and led arab community organizing youth

development and educational initiatives through cultural and political work as well as antiwar coalition building for over 10 years. she is a graduate of wellesley university with a bachelor in sociology. she cofounded a foundation providing training opportunities for civic and political engagement. since she joined arock she has helped build a member of low income and immigrant members of the arab community, empowered to provide mutual support in issues around the arab community. she helped to grow the organization threefold, providing immigration services to the local arab community as part of the san francisco immigrant legal and education network. lilie has been a leading committee member of the coalition for a safer san francisco, a strong advocate for for on and -- immigrant and

civil rights issues impacting low income communities. she joined with san francisco rights defense community to pass a policy to help protect immigrant youth from deportation, bringing an arab voice to the diverse immigrant rights movement here in san francisco. most recently, she was a key organizer with the coalition for a safe san francisco, helping successfully pass an ordinance here at the board of supervisors, this past mai, requiring transparency and accountability from the san francisco police department in dealings with the f.b.i. and other federal law enforcement agencies. through her leadership arock played a central role in bringing arab and muslim community members as well as other communities of color to city hall to support this ordinance and educate us on the experience of arab and muslim communities with law enforcement after 9/11. i am honoring her today as she leaves arock after five years of service as its program director. given that today is september

11, i think it's important to acknowledge the significance of her role, not only as a service prior in this city but as a civil and human rights advocate and organizer working to lift up the voices of the arab and muslim communities, especially during a period of anti-immigrant and anti-arab and muslim skate goating. she has not only organized her community but across communities, building bridges to ensure that san francisco as a sanctuary city continues to protect all of our communities and also speak up for the palestinian refugee population against all human rights -- globally. it is an honor to welcome you to the board chambers and thank you for your service and look forward to our future work together as well. >> thank you, supervisor. >> [applause.] >> i just wanted to say i look forward to arock continuing their work with the board of supervisors to ensure the human rights and services for all of san francisco's immigrant and working class communities.

thank you. >> [applause.] >> president chiu: thank you. >> lillian is joined by her mom from georgia. >> president chiu: welcome to the chamber. >> [applause.] >> president chiu: now, i'd like to acknowledge our district 6 supervisor, supervisor kim,

who has a commendation. >> supervisor kim: thank you. i have a separate commendation but i want to acknowledge lilie as well, and your work with arock on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. our office got to work really closely with you, and i can't tell you how immensely proud we were to work with you, and the organizing work that you were able to do in the arab-american, muslim, and south asian community to bring to light some of the issues and racial profiling that had been ongoing in this city. it was really difficult work. and you brought up a lot of members of our community that were not used to coming to city hall to speak and speak on very sensitive stories. and you know, really required a lot of courage and i know you were key in supporting that and i'm glad to see you go. i know arock is currently in district 6 and we will miss your presence in arock and in district 6. thank you for all of your work. i'm actually -- i have a commendation and i'm sure that many of my colleagues will want

to speak on behalf of this individual. we were waiting for our emergency preparedness month because we could honor this individual every week. but we wanted to take time to recognize someone who has been a steadfast presence at the site of every single emergency call in our district and in our city. i want to bring up ben ames up to the podium. >> [applause.] >> supervisor kim: whether it's a major fire, in a single family home, a residential apartment building, a gas leak, he has become a familiar face as he is often the first person on the scene and usually the last person to leave. he has been the emergency response coordinator for the city's human services agency since 2002, so over the last 10 years. this past decade you have been serving our city. since i took office in 2011, he has responded to at least 10

significant fires in our district, and worked with residents to find both temporary and in many cases permanent housing, after those incidents. many of us that have gone on the fire of these scenes, it's scary. families and individuals and seniors often don't know where they're going to go next, have lost a lot of their belongings, but most importantly, have lost their home and their security. it really takes an individual i think of a high level of caliber and sensitivity to be able to work with so many individuals who are scared, and who don't know what they're going to do next. ben has demonstrated a commitment to going above and beyond of what is expected and required of him in his work. he immediately puts our residents at ease and helps them to move through the shock of losing in many cases everything that they own. and to prioritize our most vulnerable and impacted residents. his empathy and responsiveness are things that representatives single out when they come to our office when they give feedback

on how our emergency response has gone. he has talked about creating a cultural shift by thinking of how we it continue to help victims and survivors over the long-term. people are often immediately concerned and sympathetic to victims of fire or displacement but that often wanes over time as the media turns their eye elsewhere. he evaj lives good samaritan behavior where he goes. we're he we want to thank you in this month for the work you do on behalf of our city and county and we look forward to continue working with you. thank you, ben. >> [applause.] >> before you speak, i know there are a number of colleagues on the roster want to thank you and i also want to say a few words. i think it was in my second year that we brought you to this board for a commendation that we prepared for you for all the

work you had done in my district, particularl particulaa series of fires in chinatown. i am convinced there are several -- and you managed to help put out fires and deal with emergencies and coordinate services every single week of the year, most nights of the week. and i want to just thank you on behalf of my constituents again for that. with that i want to acknowledge supervisor cohen. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i wanted to take the opportunity to thank you. i had the pleasure to meet ben first and work with him firsthand during hurricane katrina. many of you remember hurricane katrina many years ago. i was working in the mayor's office at that time and san francisco received several survivors and ben was right there on the front line, as well as other department heads but ben was the one that -- he and i worked hand in hand, elbow to elbow, in setting up cots, making sure that kids